From her conservative upbringing in the Midwest, Ruth Mahaney became a stalwart in San Francisco's left and lesbian communities in the last decades of the 20th century. This oral history traces her early days in the New Left and feminist movements to her arrival and coming out in San Francisco, her many years as a teacher and professor, member of the Modern Times Bookstore collective, as well as her memories of the Lesbian community in and around Valencia Street.